Today we’d like to introduce you to Samuel and Monica Walker.
Hi Samuel and Monica, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
To really explain the beginning of our story, we need to go back to a time when we had never even imagined life as we know it today. After meeting in England and then impatiently enduring a year and a half of video calls on dial-up internet, Sam finally arrived in the USA. About a year later, with a tiny wedding budget, we invested the majority of our money into Amy (Amy Rebecca Photography). Her infectiously joyful and encouraging personality set her apart from every other photographer we met. The way she made us feel on our wedding day, during the process of creating and capturing, is something we frequently talk about and will never forget. And, of course, the amazing photos captured everything from breakfast in the morning to the sparkler send-off at night…and everything in between. Sappy, but true, our wedding photos truly allow us to relive all of those big and little moments, no matter how many times we look at them together.
Fast forward to several years later and our schedules are disappointingly opposite. Sometimes we would only have a few hours a week together, which was really difficult. This was just the norm for us though with Sam’s career as a ballroom dance instructor and professional competitor demanding a significant amount of time. When we were preparing for our son’s adoption, we had many conversations about how best to build a life with quality family time at the center. Casually, I told Sam that we needed a “nice camera” to catch all the cuteness and something clicked! Photography went from a squirrel chasing hobby (literally, he was chasing squirrels to take their picture) to a creative obsession fairly quickly.
After shooting his first few weddings he realized the potential of what he was doing and how priceless that could be for each couple. The impact Amy had (and continues to have) on us and the power our wedding photos have to revive memories, was like fuel on the fire. Sam is an all-in type of person, so when he sets his mind on something, he achieves it. Quickly, with my desire to create left unfulfilled in my career at the time, we clearly saw the dream goal – working together as a wedding photographer team.
We are there now and joke that we spend every waking and sleeping moment together…because we do! We have the privilege of creating, strategizing, playing, and dreaming together as a family and look back on the days when we barely saw each other as a marriage strengthening memory. Our son also loves our profession and is learning to take pictures, edit, and fly the drone so as he gets older, he can hopefully join in the fun. For us, nothing could be better than this.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The short answer is no! It hasn’t been a smooth road; we have definitely faced challenges building a business from scratch. Each time we decided that one of us was going to leave our full-time careers to go all in our photography business was absolutely terrifying but extremely freeing at the same time. 2020 changed our perspective on so much of life and it really provided Sam with a determination to accelerate our business and leave his successful ballroom dance career. It was a very difficult decision to make, especially since he had worked so tirelessly to build his reputation and mastery in ballroom dance and had also grown some amazing relationships with his students and colleagues. When I left my full-time sales job in 2021, it wasn’t quite as hard since I longed to spend more time with our son, but there were definitely lots of tears.
Since devoting ourselves full time to our business and family, we would agree it has been 1,000% worth it, but also filled with navigating the bumpy road of how to lovingly coexist as a married couple AND to also productively work together 24/7. The freedom of being your own boss comes with the huge grey area of always working! Sometimes we don’t turn off work talk enough since both of our minds are constantly thinking about what we can improve on. We must continuously rebalance our time and also our strengths, and reevaluate how we work together best. That isn’t simple when there is no clock-out time, very little physical separation, and an adorable 5-year-old asking to build another Lego vehicle! Learning to celebrate our shared and individual successes have totally grown our marriage in a whole new way.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are a wedding photographer team! From the very first conversation with our couples, we use an intentional process of connecting, educating, planning, and uncovering the uniqueness of each of our couple’s dynamics. This approach allows us to create both engagement and wedding imagery together that captures who they truly are. We describe our photography style as playful, deliberate, and timeless. These three elements are a guidepost to how we conduct business and how we capture moments, as well as descriptors of the final images.
We specialize in co-creating with our couples. Knowing that our couples really want to create with us (and not just participate) we use our expertise to uncover and guide them so the result is artistry unique to them. One example of this is how we approach engagement sessions. We quickly found ourselves bored with doing what everyone else was doing, so one of our distinctive offerings is the 60-minute process of crafting engagement sessions together with our couples. From busting out the smoke machine and cold beer to traveling to epic destinations, the result is an engagement session that is more like an unforgettable experience than a dutiful photoshoot! This is SO unbelievably fun for us too!
As far as what we are most proud of, it would have to be how we are always striving to refine our craft. This ensures we continue to love what we do and gives our couples the absolute best experience and result. From training workshops with top photographers to receiving regular coaching and mentorship, we know that we always have something to learn and we can always improve.
If you ask our couples what we are known for you would likely hear a combination of how they love the balance of dynamic and naturally posed portraiture, how fun and involved we are to work with and that they felt confident in our expertise.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The simple answer is if you are engaged and/or looking for a wedding photographer, fill out our contact form on our website so we can schedule a time to talk!
Following us on Facebook and Instagram really helps us as well, as we use social media to reach newly engaged couples and also connect with our current and past couples. Since neither of us is a social media mastermind, we appreciate every like, comment, follow, and interaction!
As far as collaborating, we are currently building our preferred vendor list for all areas in Ohio and appreciate introductions to other wedding vendors. Our couples frequently ask us for vendor recommendations (most couples book their wedding photographers shortly after booking their wedding venue and before other vendors). If you work for a wedding vendor or know of a great one, please send info our way via email!
And finally, we are always looking for individuals who are interested in wedding photography to join our team. Currently, we are filling positions for trainees, photography assistants, second photographers, and second videographers. We both have a passion for helping people uncover their potential…and what better way to see if you love wedding photography as much as we do than actually learn how to do it alongside us! Just shoot us an email and we can chat.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samuelwalkerphotography.com
- Instagram: Samuelwalkerphotography101
- Facebook: SamuelWalkerPhotography
